Evolve
by Akatsuki Feathers
Summary: Love doesn’t bloom. It starts out as a small speck of respect or admiration and evolves. [GaaLee, drabble]


Title: Evolve  
Pairings: GaaLee  
Rating: G  
Description: Love doesn't bloom. It starts out as a small speck of respect or admiration and evolves.  
Author's Note: I suddenly thought of this when I was looking for a good GaaLee story to read. And in almost every description, there was 'will their love bloom?' or something along those lines. I felt a bit irked. So I wrote this! Please enjoy.

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It had all started with respect… 

He had respected him, even before they had battled. He had respected the boy's calm demeanor that shined in the most tense of situations. He respected the amount of chakra that the boy had and he respected the malice that radiated from his eyes.

He than started to admire…

He admired the boy's strength. He admired the fact that he was smart and handsome. He admired the fact that he was able to withstand his barrage of attacks and end up being able to walk away without even a limp. He admired his ability to recover from even the most horrible of pasts.

But later, he found himself starting to care…

He found himself being infuriated when he was emotionally hurt. He found that he was ecstatic when he found out that he had become the Kazekage. And when he was kidnapped, he felt his heart start to tear apart slowly.

Rock Lee could feel it, the love towards the Kazekage named Sabaku no Gaara growing steadier and steadier everyday until he was unable to take it anymore.

So he took every mission to Suna as he could, even mulling people over to get to the Hokage building first, just to see the love of his life once more. But as time passed, he finally could take it no more.

---

Lee stepped up to the visiting Kazekage.

"Excuse me, Kazekage-sama." He muttered politely.

Gaara looked up at the taijutsu shinobi, his face bland and stony, "Please, sit." He said in the usual monotone and gestured to the chair opposite from him.

Lee nodded and sat down, his hands knitted together and his heart pounding. "I have something I wish to tell you…" He said; his eyes averted to the table's glossy surface.

"What is it?"

Sitting in silence, Lee could finally hear his heart beating. He had vaguely wondered why it had taken so long for him to start hearing it. But basking in the dull thudding that was his heart, Lee knew that he had to admit his love towards the man or else he would likely go insane.

"Gaara-sama, I love you."

The words were quick and flowed out of his mouth easily. He had said the word 'love' many times before, it was one of the easiest words for him to speak, yet they meant so much to him at that time that he felt it become a bit more complicated to say.

He didn't know how the Kage would react, since he was always in that shell of a body, never letting out any signs of emotions.

Lee finally looked away from one of the spots on the table and couldn't help but look at the other's eyes. They really were quite beautiful.

But he watched them melt. Melt from the stone they seemed to be carved from and into the liquid that they really were. He watched as they glowed in a way, and felt his heart flutter as his beautiful eyes became irresistible and gorgeous.

But he felt a bit discouraged, as the other man said not a word.

He sat in the silence once again, his heart ticking and his fingers fidgeting.

"S-So?" He stuttered, unable to stand the uncertainty any more.

Gaara frowned slightly and continued to look him straight in the eye.

Frowning, that was a bad sign, wasn't it?

"As you may know," He started slowly, possibly picking his words carefully, "I am not good dealing with… Affection… So please do not become discouraged when I do not reply quickly," He paused, hands coming out from under the table and resting on the table. "I am not good with this sort of thing, for these feelings I have never truly grasped."

Lee smiled. Maybe it was just his mind, or maybe Gaara had actually said it, but he thought he heard something that hinted that the Kazekage loved him back.

He shot to his feet and gathered the smaller one into a giant hug. He had expected the ever present sand to crush him for the sudden contact, but simply felt it hug his waist in displeasure and nothing more.

He could feel a small tremble ripple off of Gaara, but smiled brighter and held him closer. "I truly do love you, Gaara-sama." He soothed.

"I am… Glad."


End file.
